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Post by springcrocus on Jul 21, 2014 18:01:38 GMT
A couple of you showed some interest in the machinery I have at my disposal so I thought I would take a few pictures and post them up here. The lathe I use is from around 1942 and made by the Keighley Lift Company and was produced as part of the war effort. Although limited in some of its features - the top speed was 600 rpm before I changed things around a bit - it was well designed. Apart from the cast-in gap at the headstock, there is a further section of bedway that can be removed to widen the gap.  The headstock has opposed-taper roller bearings at the front, a lever-action gearbox providing six speeds (three high, three low) and the spindle nose with 1.3/4" Whitworth with 1.750" register. It also has a lever for selecting LH or RH screwcutting through changewheel selection and a 3-speed feedbox with speeds selected by the same changewheels. The spindleis 3/4" clear through with a 3MT at the front.  Feed is provided to both the saddle and the cross-slide and can be either direction but, as would be expected, you cannot select screwcutting and feed at the same time, nor can you provide a feed to both slides at once. The bedway is similar in design to a Colchester with the tailstock travelling on the rear vee. A couple of the downsides are that the cross-slide dial is calibrated at four thou per division, which means a DTI for decent accuracy (or a DRO if and when I can afford it), the spindle can only be run in the forward direction (or you might unscrew the chuck), and the tailstock wont eject, but that is down to some damage that occured when I had it in my factory. All in all, a nice bit of kit for a seventy-year-old lathe. Anyway, taking the photos meant I had to tidy the place up a bit and have a sort-out. Now, can I interest anybody in a dozen half-inch paintbrushes with special quarter inch long bristles? Steve |
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Post by Roger on Jul 21, 2014 19:54:44 GMT
That's a good solid piece of kit, but the toolpost would drive me nuts. A quick change toolpost and a DRO would absolutely transform it and make it much more productive and user friendly.
If you ever need Metric screw cutting, there's a very neat pair of reduced pitch gears you can make (40:127) that are detailed in No.3 of the Workshop Practice series 'Screwcutting in the lathe'. I made a set for my Southbend lathe and they cam in very handy.
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jma1009
Elder Statesman
Posts: 5,900
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Post by jma1009 on Jul 21, 2014 21:16:11 GMT
thank you steve for posting pics of your lovely lathe. i would consider myself very lucky to own such a lathe - which im not!
i am very fond of old lathes. some of the american lathes imported and used in WW2 are still providing stirling service in model engineers workshops and ive spent many happy hours using such machines in fellow club member's workshops. some of the older british lathes were also way ahead of other makes.
im still looking for a decent Atlas lathe, and a flat bed Drummond!
cheers,
julian
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Post by springcrocus on Jul 21, 2014 21:17:56 GMT
That's a good solid piece of kit, but the toolpost would drive me nuts. A quick change toolpost and a DRO would absolutely transform it and make it much more productive and user friendly. If you ever need Metric screw cutting, there's a very neat pair of reduced pitch gears you can make (40:127) that are detailed in No.3 of the Workshop Practice series 'Screwcutting in the lathe'. I made a set for my Southbend lathe and they cam in very handy. Thats the other thing that makes it a bit awkward - top of the compound slide to centreheight is just 16mm. Makes a QC toolpost almost impossible. The whole topslide needs redesigning. As for gears, it has a complete set of changewheels, including 127, and cuts all metric threads up to about 6mm pitch, and imperial from 40tpi up to 4 tpi. Steve |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2014 22:14:27 GMT
Hi Steve, I think your Keithley lathe is virtually identical to my Denham Junior that I restored recently. This had sat on a friend's garage floor for 40 years after he purchased it from a government surplus place. I love the power feeds but the tailstock clamping with a spanner is a pain and will have to be altered somehow. I was disappointed with the height of the compound slide as I had acquired some big indexable tools hoping to be able to use them but can't as the tips would be way above centre height.  |
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Post by Roger on Jul 21, 2014 22:18:37 GMT
That's a huge chunk of material they've made the cross slide out of, it looks like that comes off too. Maybe you can machine a big slice off the top without losing much stiffness. Still, it's head and shoulders above what a lot of model engineers have, it looks very capable.
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Post by Roger on Jul 21, 2014 22:20:57 GMT
Hi Steve, I think your Keithley lathe is virtually identical to my Denham Junior that I restored recently. This had sat on a friend's garage floor for 40 years after he purchased it from a government surplus place. I love the power feeds but the tailstock clamping with a spanner is a pain and will have to be altered somehow. I was disappointed with the height of the compound slide as I had acquired some big indexable tools hoping to be able to use them but can't as the tips would be way above centre height. The Southbend was like that, so I made a bespoke ring spanner that could be left in place most of the time on the tailstock. That worked really well. |
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Post by springcrocus on Jul 22, 2014 7:05:19 GMT
Hi, Baggo. Yes, they look very much the same except for the general appearance - mine wouldn't win any prizes in a beauty competition.  If you look closely, the headstock on mine rests on a large packing piece, the cross-slide is chunkier and the tailstock is also taller. But it still ends up with a 16mm centre-height.  . Roger: I have had the cross-slide dismantled with a view to reducing the height but it would be quite a big job. The circular tee-slot under the compound slide is the main problem. What would be nice would be if I could cut through horizantally about 1/2" above the dovetails and remove 1/2" of metal from the bottom of the remaining lump before rejoining the parts. That would allow any QC toolpost to be mounted, and carry tooling up to 20mm with ease. Typing this up has motivated me into giving it serious thought. If I decide to try and modify, I will blog the whole process - it could make an interesting little project. |
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Post by springcrocus on Jul 22, 2014 7:19:53 GMT
Baggo: When I had this in the factory about fifteen years ago, I, too, looked at modifying the tailstock clamping. At the time, I drew up sketches to modify it by drilling and reaming a 1" hole right through in line with the clamping screw and fitting an eccentric so that it could be lever-operated similar to the Colchesters. Those sketches are long gone but I think I could reproduce what I had in mind at the time. When I get time, I will draw it up again and post the info up here. You will probably come up with something better but it may help clarify your own thoughts on a possible solution.
Steve
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Post by Roger on Jul 22, 2014 8:19:28 GMT
Hi, Baggo. Yes, they look very much the same except for the general appearance - mine wouldn't win any prizes in a beauty competition. If you look closely, the headstock on mine rests on a large packing piece, the cross-slide is chunkier and the tailstock is also taller. But it still ends up with a 16mm centre-height. . Roger: I have had the cross-slide dismantled with a view to reducing the height but it would be quite a big job. The circular tee-slot under the compound slide is the main problem. What would be nice would be if I could cut through horizantally about 1/2" above the dovetails and remove 1/2" of metal from the bottom of the remaining lump before rejoining the parts. That would allow any QC toolpost to be mounted, and carry tooling up to 20mm with ease. Typing this up has motivated me into giving it serious thought. If I decide to try and modify, I will blog the whole process - it could make an interesting little project. As you say, it would make an interesting project, and it would make a huge difference. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2014 11:43:26 GMT
Hello all------- a similar problem but on a much smaller scale}---------- When I first bought my Clarke 300 mini-lathe its' tailstock also used only a nut for clamping............A bit of research showed that Arc Euro Trade did a similar model with a lever clamping system PLUS}--- They would sell their tailstock seperately...An afternoon with a set of hand scrapers saw all centres in-line and the lathe good to go !!............  -----------------  ----------------------------  |
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Post by z12nswgr on Jul 23, 2014 10:38:45 GMT
Hey mate, with those large indexable tool is it posible to mill the bottom these to meet the 16mm centre-height. Just a thought
Rj
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Post by ettingtonliam on Jul 23, 2014 11:09:12 GMT
Hi Steve, I think your Keithley lathe is virtually identical to my Denham Junior that I restored recently. This had sat on a friend's garage floor for 40 years after he purchased it from a government surplus place. I love the power feeds but the tailstock clamping with a spanner is a pain and will have to be altered somehow. I was disappointed with the height of the compound slide as I had acquired some big indexable tools hoping to be able to use them but can't as the tips would be way above centre height. John Until recently, I had a 6" lathe which started life with a spanner clamped tailstock. It seriously annoyed me, so I bored through the body of the tailstock from the back, in line with the clamping stud, and made an eccentric shaft to fit, plus a new clamping stud with a bushed eye on the top end to fit the end of the eccentric shaft. That, plus a lever with a nice plastic knob on the end was the answer. The problem I think you will have compared to mine, is that you don't seem to have much free space above the existing nut to fit in the eye bolt. Nice restoration by the way. Richard |
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If you look closely, the headstock on mine rests on a large packing piece, the cross-slide is chunkier and the tailstock is also taller. But it still ends up with a 16mm centre-height. 
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